I’m not looking for a debate over athiesm or agnosticism.
I am wondering what people find themselves using either as an exclamation or when swearing.
Oh my God!
Holy xxx (fill in the blank)!
Jesus Christ!
Sweet Jesus
Oh my lord
Damn you
Curse you
heck, even Bless You.
All of these reference some form of deity, many of them Christian specific.
I find that using these is ingrained in me.
If you are an athiest or agnostic, have you worked to change your vocabulary?
What’s have you added?
I have found that many of these expressions became so prevalent that they crossed over into the vernacular as idioms rather than being conscious religious exclamations. My Jewish uncle used to say “Jesus Christ” all the time as an exclamation. I have not sustained the effects of my Christian upbringing but say “goddammit” and so forth, but so non-literally that it’s interchangable with “shit!”
I also say “bless you” when someone sneezes.
I also say “holy shit” but never thought there was anything religious about that to begin with. 
Fitta (cunt)
Hora (whore)
Men vad fan… (But what satan…)*
Men för i helvete (But for in hell…)**
Satans jävla horkuk (Satans damned whorecock)
I invoked Jesus Christ during the infamous exploding breast incident.
I use my share of non-deity-based profanity as well.
I’m not exactly English-speaking; nor socialized in a culture where references to a deity are commonplace… so pretty much the same terminology as anyone else. I could give you literal translations if you want?
Some of these are common in my speech, some aren’t. Why would I work to change them? Their literal meanings mean nothing to me.
Exactly. I also swear by Ford, though - I started doing it as a joke after reading Brave New World in high school. And, er, I never stopped. It’s a genuine habit now.
Ford!
Most common first:
Fuck.
Holy shit.
Jesus Fucking Christ!
Why, the swearwords that are popular in my cultural sphere. Just like everyone else.
(Because I’m a nerd, those tend to be “Frak!” and “By Crom!”)
Profanity is learned from usage, and if everyone uses the same words and phrases, then one’s religious beliefs aren’t a factor. I say “holy shit”, “Jesus Christ”, and “fucking hell” all the time.
Like CookingWithGas, I also say “bless you” when someone sneezes. The point of commenting is to excuse the sneezing. My lack of faith is irrelevant, and I’d consider it obnoxious to draw attention to it.
My most common is jesus fuck!
Godammit is probably a close second.
Science H. Logic!
Southpark
This lensmen has actually sworn by Klono’s gadolinium guts.
Klono does have quite a convenient set of anatomy for swearing by, doesn’t he?
How about “Sweet evil Jesus!”?
Er… isn’t it the religious folks who aren’t supposed to take the Lord’s name in vain? The atheists/agnostics can say whatever they want!
"I am wondering what people find themselves using either as an exclamation or when swearing.
…
Curse you
…"
Does anyone, in standard English, actually say “Curse you” other than Snoopy the Dog in Peanuts?
Anyway, I am an atheist but curse in idiom.
Holy Christmas Jew!! (stole that from Penn Jillette)
Bugger all!
Lot’s of religious swears, plus some of the more explicit sex and disease references and combos of all three that are all so much part of traditional Dutch (which has a lot of Yiddish in its swearing vocabulary, hence the diseases).
Since this is more of a poll than anything else, it’s better suited for IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator